Dove Direct Print and Marketing Blog, "Why Print Marketing Matters in 2019"

Welcome to the Dove Direct Print and Marketing Blog. Today's post, "Why Print Marketing Matters in 2019" highlights a myriad of reasons why any brand or marketer needs to include print as a viable part of any marketing strategy. While it is crystal clear that online activity has grown to dominate conventional marketing wisdom, it is also apparent that print marketing uplifts online objectives in ways that overcome the notion that print is no longer relevant.

The 'print is dead' mantra that arose in the early days of internet usage forecasting has been scaled back in a myriad of ways. And yes, most marketing organizations have been pouring sizable budgets into online marketing targeting digital disciplines such as search engine marketing, social media, online video campaigns and others.

Nevertheless, print marketing has staved off the seemingly inevitable demise that many had previously forecast and now offers a range of benefits like none before. The fact of the matter is print marketing actually helps brands in their quest to better target online consumer engagement.

Print is Sensual

The digital environment is unable to compete with real face-to-face people encounters that can generate a word-of-mouth exchange. Printed collateral actually performs in a manner that evokes tactile emotive responses void of staring at a computer monitor or for that matter any digital device that has a screen.

Human beings are sensory creatures, in that touch, feel, smell and seeing are what matters to us all. Printed collateral has the ability to trigger these sensory aspects that digital fails to accomplish. In fact, Martin Lindstrom, writer of "Brand Sense," is of the mind that brands whose marketing strategies can appeal to more than three senses will rise above the advertising endeavors of brands that fail to do so.

Print Appeals to Upscale Consumers

High end catalogs, brochures, and glossy magazines have recently shown a propensity to appeal to luxury minded consumers. In fact, there are a number of reports and surveys that support this as fact.

Upscale consumers are 28% more likely to visit an online purchasing point after receiving a direct mail piece. In addition, millennials prefer receiving direct mail marketing when it comes to books and catalogs. Again, these facts represent yet another reason why print is an effective addition to almost any marketing campaign strategy.

Print Provides a Better Attention Span

In the digital world, where over 2 billion Facebook users alone have the capability to instantly communicate with each other and among groups, the communication/engagement texts are much shorter these days.

To that end, most rapid fire communications comes in the form of Tweets based on Twitter's 140 character behavior. Nor, should it come as a surprise that rapid fire communications often occur when a person is watching television, cooking or even embroiled in a telephone conversation.

Print differentiates the multi-tasked online behavior. Research indicates that consumers who are in possession of a piece of printed collateral will tend to stop what they are doing and shut down other tasks to focus on the content in hand.

Consider this, there are no pop up ads and banners to distract a viewer when reading printed materials. Therefore, when brands are looking to extend attention spans with their marketing strategies, print marketing will greatly aid in that regard.

Print is More Trustworthy

In a sense, the online world is suffering from users inability to distinguish truth from fiction. Add the malicious bot attacks, disinformation campaigns and other factual misnomers, and it is no wonder why so many online users are starting to reduce or disengage from their social media activities.

As a result, print media now commands the position as being the much more trustworthy than online destinations. Further, recent reports have found that recipients of direct mail are more inclined to make an online purchase after having received a direct mail offering. Again, another reason why print marketing matters in 2019.

Print Can Increase ROI by 240%

As far back as 2013, a dedicated panel of GFK Panel Services validated that print, "if well-targeted and well-created, the newspaper ad ROI can run up to 240% (even accounting with gross spending)." Now in 2019, while newspapers have been moving to online versions, it remains unclear how print collateral can bolster newsprint's ROI.

Therefore, while the online gurus have contended that print collateral is ineffective, those claims are being disproven every day. While a print marketing campaign may not in and of itself generate an average 240% ROI increase when pushing recipients to online destinations, reports have suggested that anywhere between 20% upwards of 200% can be achieved. Therefore, the prospect of improving digital response rates is directly associated with using print marketing in conjunction with other marketing strategies.

Transactional Print Documents

As vendors operating in the online world continue to push for online bill payments, consumers are becoming more wary of their sensitive data becoming compromised. One need only to look back in recent years where iconic brand data breaches are becoming the norm. In some cases, breaches are inevitable and a matter of when according to most security experts.

However, printed transactional documents that encompass billing and sensitive financial transactions alleviate that online security concern to a large degree. Since it is apparent that a majority of people find print to be a more trustworthy vehicle, it would also stand to reason that by incorporating print transactional documents for the dissemination of sensitive information and offers, brands that are looking to impart a sense of security for their customers should gladly embrace print.

Print is More Impactful

The ubiquitous world of digital media has now become a war of accelerated noise. Of course, in spite of the noise, digital media will remain a constant in our lives. As digital ad blockers increase in usage, as a result, the digital landscape is becoming much more challenging for brands to make inroads to garner consumers and prospects attention.

Both B2B and B2C brands targeting C-Level prospects could better improve their opportunities by foregoing the email marketing piece and instead start creating and sending quality brochures, postcards, books, kits, and other notable print media.

For those entities that are steeped in email marketing, they may find it a pleasant surprise to discover that direct mail gets opened at a much higher rate than emails, as a majority of emails are deleted, often unread.

Again, the impact of printed collateral proves to be yet another reason why print marketing is a must-have to improve almost any marketing initiative in 2019.

The Net-Net

In the event your organization has yet to invest in print marketing, 2019 is a great time to start. Need better ROI for your digital campaigns? Need to understand how to integrate print into your digital campaigns? It may be time for your organization to consult a commercial printer that can create omnichannel solutions to help you realize print's potential. Thanks for reading "Why Print Marketing Matters in 2019."

Not to toot our own horn, but Dove Direct is the Southeast's leading print, marketing and mailing organization with over 30+ years experience. We would be pleased to discuss your needs with no obligation. If you like, let's have a conversation about brand equity and unified marketing collateral during our next Open House. You can join us on Thursday, January 31st, 2019, anytime between 9:30 am to 4:30 pm ET. Let us show you how to improve your document processes to optimize your workflow, reduce your costs, and maximize your organization's printing, letter shop and mailing capabilities. And, if you bring us your files, we will create a demo file for you. For more information call Carla Eubanks at 404-629-0122 or email Carla at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Dove Direct offers organizations end-to-end transactional marketing: Data Management, Variable Digital Printing, LetterShop and Fulfillment, Fully Automated MLOCR Presort Bureau, Marketing and Production Management Support and Secure Data Life Cycle Management.

If you don't want to wait for the Open House, you can reach Dove Direct today by calling 404-629-0122 or use the contact form for Dove Direct.